Gabriel Brindle is nearly out of options. He's a former bull rider, a wannabe rancher wiped out by the blizzard of '87, a former water truck driver for methane drillers.

His next try is an on-line and mail order course offered by Drummond Detective. The alternative is getting licensed to sell real estate. "But I've got my principles, such as they are," he says.

He is retained by a rancher whose summer fattened, hold-over, steers are the target of night rustlers. His plan is to get evidence that the county sheriff can't ignore, pick up his fee, and on to the next case-just like the movies.

But in life, Gabriel's story, doesn't follow a script. He's a beginner, at the bottom of the learning curve, finding his way. His new career is not like the movies at all.